Dr. E.V. Ball House

Description:	Drawing of the Dr. E.V. Ball House by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. DR. E. V. BALL HOUSE WHICH STOOD AT FIRST AND CHERRY STREETS. Drawing by Juilet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.The home of Dr. Edward Voorhees Ball, one of Terre Hautes early physicians, was located near the southwest corner of First and Cherry streets.Dr. Ball was born in New Jersey in 1800 and came west with his parents while yet a boy. His father had a farm in Illinois and would have preferred that his son stay on the farm but the boy had decided to become a doctor and went to Vincennes where he studied under Dr. Lawrence Shuler. Dr. Shuler moved to Terre Haute in 1825 and Dr. Ball followed him soon after.In 1828 Dr. Ball married Sarah Elizabeth Richardson of York, Ill. During that year he purchased the lot upon which the above house was built. I do not know how soon he built his house, but it seems probable from information at hand that it was built by 1830.I have only the sketchiest description of the original house in a little family story written by Dr. Balls daughter, Mary Ball Peddle. She says, My father first built the house with a large parlor and bedroom upstairs and a basement dining room and kitchen below these rooms. Along the south side of the house there was an upper and lower porch, the lower one to give an entrance to the basement. The east end of the porch above the length of the parlor was my fathers office. After a while more room was needed. The porch was made wider and enclosed above and below so as to give a large room above and two bedrooms below. The office was taken for a bedroom and a new office building was put on the corner of the lot. The house as last described was the way it looked about 1847 so it had already been remodeled at that date.It was altered again in the middle sixties. There was considerable family discussion before the changes were made as to whether it would not be better to build a new house further east where the newer residential section of the town was developing. The house had originally been located on a choice site, overlooking the river and many of the nicer homes of that early period were situated along or near the riverfront. Industry had begun to creep in even in the fifties and the canal was not far away, but the family was attached to the old home site and finally decided to enlarge the old house instead of building in the lower part of town.The new house seems to have been set in front of the old one which can be seen at the back of the above picture. The Illustration represents the house as it appeared after these last changes. Dr Balls granddaughter, Caroline Peddle Ball, says the new drawing room was 45 feet long, and had two fireplaces, and that all of the ceilings were high, even in the new bedrooms upstairs, but she remembers with particular affection her grandmothers cozy bedroom in the old portion of the house at the back which was several steps lower than the front part of the house. She also tells of hearing about a lovely garden which her grandfather had, which was practically gone by the time she could rememberThe doctor had all kinds of rare trees and shrubs, many of them imported. He had trained dwarf fruit trees as pyramids and others were espaliers. A Scotch gardener whom he employed may have had something to do with developing this interesting garden but the doctor took a great deal of pleasure in working in it himself. She speaks of a well tended drive which used to sweep up to the front door which she says the coming of the railroad on First street eliminated, but I believe that this must have been the drive to the old house which was necessarily lost when the new house was set in front of it.Dr. Ball died in 1873 and his wife in 1890. From 1890 until 1912 the house was rented and it was during this time that the Social Settlement was located here. In 1912 the Carl Bauermister Co. purchased the property and in 1923 took down the house. The site is now occupied by the buildings of the Distributors Terminal Corporation.In 1884 the railroad obtained a right of way along First Street which accelerated the conversion of this locality to an industrial one and by the time the house was finally removed the aspect of the neighborhood was a far cry from the village street of the 1830s with its trees and gardens and white picket fences.Change is essential to progress, but even while urging progress we sometimes turn back and gaze a moment with respect and affection upon the things of the past which have served their turn at building our community and then have yielded to the march of progress when their usefulness was ended.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/847
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Ball, Edward Voorhees, 1800-1873 Architecture Domestic Life

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